Never Too Late
by WingsOfSilverSorrow
Summary: There was something wrong. That is why Takuya and the gang all tried to enter the Digital World - and possibly doomed them all. Will the Frontier gang be able to save the worlds - and themselves - from this new, catastrophic danger?
1. The First Mistake

**Yo.**

**I know, I know - Picking Up the Pieces isn't done yet. I _promise _that will be done, but I just had to get this out there. In fact, I'll work on the current chapter after this. XD**

**Well, a few nights ago I grabbed a notebook and pretty much poured all my thoughts into my notebook. The plot took up four pages, and I was writing from 12:15 - 1:30 in the morning. I'm mental, I know. **

**I will be using the English forms of names (Zoe instead of Izumi, for example) because this actually has Digimon in it (whoot!), and I watched the whole series in English. Hope you don't mind. **

**Anyway, here is the first chapter of 'Never Too Late'. The name came from the song, but this is not a songfic. I credit the name because listening to it helped me think up of this plot. Also, it fits pretty well. **

**Also, if there are mistakes, really sorry.I have done spell check countless times, but for some reason sometimes FanFiction mashes to words I _had _put a space in together, so sorry if you see anything like that.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**The First Mistake **

Takuya reached for his cell phone, buried deep in the pocket of his khakis. He searched it for any new messages, but there seemed to be none.

He didn't know why he was so persistent. There hadn't been anything new for the last ten times he had checked during the past ten minutes.

Takuya had just finished soccer practice that quiet, hot summer evening, and was on his way home, his uniform and cleats (among other things) tossed in his duffel bag, and his soccer ball dribbled at his feet. It had been a pretty good practice, and he awaited the following week's game with high hopes of winning.

His cell phone vibrated.

Takuya trapped his soccer ball and rashly tried to whip out his cell phone, succeeding in nearly dropping it. When he flipped the screen open, a text message appeared:

_bored_

_-Koji_

Takuya growled in anger. He waits forever for...something...to call him, and all he gets is a load of _nothing _from _Koji._

Takuya replied in a haughty matter, jabbing the dials with his gloved thumbs.

"Stupid Koji..." he grumbled.

_-o-o-o-_

Koji glanced up from his book at the beeping of his cell phone on his desk. He bookmarked his page in _Code Talker _and glanced at the message:

_alert the media. _

_-Takuya_

_p.s - correction: alert the media, leave ME out of it_

Koji was not surprised at Takuya's heated response. In fact, he had expected it.

For the past week, things had become strained for Takuya. In fact, all of the Digi-Destined - Zoe, Koichi, Tommy, J.P, and even Koji himself. The only thing was, no one was sure _why._

Their tempers had begun to flare up, and it seemed everyone was always _waiting _for something. Zoe would always argue about everything, Tommy would be stubborn, J.P would sulk, Koichi would be silent half the time, Koji was more irritated, and Takuya was being bossier than ever.

And Koji believed he had realized what it was.

He deleted Takuya's message (he didn't like filling up his inbox with his garbage), and sent a message that would change their lives forever through the very mysteries and secrets they searched for.

_Subject: IMPORTANT_

_Recipients: Zoe Orimoto, J.P Shibiyama, Koichi Kimura, Takuya Kanbara, Tommy Himi_

_Sender: Koji Minamoto_

_Meet at the Shibuya train station at 4:00 P.M tomorrow. You know why._

_No exceptions, no excuses._

-_Koji_

* * *

Zoe fumbled with her locker code, always passing the numbers and having to start over on the metal lock. She only had half an hour to get to the train station before Koji would interrogate her for being late. 

At last, she yanked the lock, and opened her locker. She had just finished volleyball practice, and needed to change out of her uniform. She pulled out her clothes and hurried to dress.

Locking the door again, Zoe stepped out of the sports complex front door and checked the time on her clock again.

3:48 P.M

She had twelve minutes to get to the train station.

_No problem, _Zoe thought brightly to herself. _I'll be there in less than half that time. In fact, I'll be there before anyone else, knowing the boys.  
_

She towed her bike out of the rack (she had 'forgotten' her lock and was silently thankful nobody had stolen it), looking out at the road for cars. She saw nothing either way, and jumped onto her bicycle and down the sidewalk.

Three minutes had passed when she felt her cell phone vibrate in her hand, which also gripped onto the handle bar. She skidded to a stop and picked up the call.

"Zoe here,"

"Are you on your way?" came a familiar voice from the other end.

Zoe sighed.

"Yes, Koji, I'm coming right now. I just got out of volleyball practice and will be there in a few minutes." Zoe paused.

"Good. 'Cause your the last one."

He hung up without another word.

Zoe stood there at the side of the road, her cell phone still recording the time of the call.

_I'm the last one? _

Her phone started to beep, reminding her the call had been ended.

He had changed the time to trick her.

_Stupid Koji. _She thought irritably.

* * *

"What's so important that you had to make us come all the way to _Shibuya Train Station _for, Koji?" whined Tommy as he swayed side to side on a gate rail. His large mushroom-shaped hat slipped over his eyes, and pushed it back up with his thumb. 

Koji sighed, digging his hands into his pockets. It was true; he _had _changed the time to three-thirty and had not told Zoe, just to frazzle her. But she _could _arrive a _little _early.

"It's not _that _far from your house here, Tommy," said Takuya. He was pacing up and down the sidewalk, searching for Zoe, flipping open and close his cell phone.

"I'm sure Zoe will be here soon," Koichi spoke up. "Yes, she'll probably have a fit because Koji tricked her, but she'll get over it." He was leaning against a street lamp pole, gazing longingly at the train station.

"Well, I think Koji deserves getting yelled at," accused J.P, who was standing next to Tommy. "Zoe doesn't deserve to be tricked like that!"

Koji still hadn't said anything, J.P noticed. He stood in the middle of the sidewalk, pony tail hanging out of his blue and gray bandanna.

"It's _sooo _hot, too," complained Tommy again. He wore shorts and a thin tee shirt, but J.P bet half the problem was his huge hat.

"Then _take the hat off, buddy!" _suggested Takuya, prancing over in his jean shorts and soccer jersey and snatching up the hat.

"Hey! Takuya!" cried Tommy, half-laughing, as he chased after Takuya.

"And to think if anyone _else _did that to him he would freak," chuckled Koichi, brushing the dirt off his shorts and gray tee. Just then Koji saw her come up the street.

Zoe gracefully swerved her lavender-chromed bike into a rack, tied it to the pole with a piece of string (much to Koji's utter confusement), and came over to the group.

"Well, 4:00, on the dot." She said calmly.

"Right on the -!" began Takuya.

_Slap._

Koji didn't know which made him turn redder - the unexpected smack in the face from one of his best friends or the fact his was just smacked in the face by a _girl._

_"_Ouch," giggled Tommy.

"He deserves it," scoffed J.P.

"Oh, hi, Zoe," said Koichi, obviously not aware of what just happened.

"That was for ding-dong-ditching me," snapped Zoe, rubbing her hand daintily.

"Thirteen years old and you have quite the attitude," Koji snarled back. "And it's a _joke. _Not _ditching. Ding-dong ditching _would be ringing a doorbell and -"

"In other words, you spent to much time at Italy last month." Takuya chortled, breaking off the fight. "So, Koji, what's up? Why did you drag us out here?"

Koji turned to face the rest of the group, ignoring the smothered laughter coming from J.P and Tommy.

"I had us all meet today," he began quietly. "Because of a place somewhere deep inside ofthe nexttrain station,"

He waited in the awkward silence, but no voices rose.

"The Digital World," Koji said. "I think it's calling for us. Something must be wrong."

"How would you know? The Spirits wouldn't be able to tell us. They left; not a part of us anymore." interrupted Takuya. "At least, not here on Earth...I think,"

He furrowed his brow, as if thinking very hard about something, and was silent.

"I don't know how! But - "

" - We've all been pretty impatient lately," interrupted Koichi. "And don't deny you've been guarding your cell phone like a savage all week, Takuya. We're all just waiting for them to let us know that we need to come."

Koji was waiting for that.

"Perfect." he said cooly. He untied his windbreaker from around his waist, wearing it over his navy shirt. "Then let's go."

"So, it all turned out in the end, Zoe, so don't -," Takuya began, referring to the dramatic scene just moments before.

Zoe whirled with one hand raised ominously in the air.

"You're next," she warned darkly.

_-o-o-o-_

Koichi had expected something rash and stupid from his brother, but he ran after him nevertheless. He heard the plodding footsteps of the other four Digi-Destined following behind them.

As they came to the ticket vendor, Koji whirled around, and quickly waved six tickets in the air for them all to see. Koichi winked at their confused faces.

_Sure saves a lot of time to buy the tickets ahead, _thought Koichi wryly as the gang passed through the gates.

A few minutes later they had all made it on the train, exhausted and cramping. They knew their next step was the elevator, but what they all silently wondered was how they would get down to the destroyed underground train station.

When they had saved the human and Digital World from Lucemon, the entire cavern of Trainmon had been destroyed, and the elevator severed from the main floor. How would they possibly get down to the port when their was no way _to _get down?

_Did they plan that far ahead? _wondered Takuya silently as the train screeched to a slow stop. The others focused their attention on the train station.

Koji's feet slapped onto the ground the moment the sliding doors opened. Koichi was glued to his shadow, with Takuya, Zoe, Tommy, and J.P all racing behind them. It didn't take long, however, to find the elevator -

Out of order.

"Damn," muttered Takuya quietly. So they _had _repaired the elevator; it just _happened _to break during their time of need.

Zoe, J.P, and Tommy all exchanged looks of disappointment with each other, but Koichi and Koji seemed strangely placid and confident. Koji stepped up to the glass of the elevator, gently brushing the back of his hand against the chrome metal supporting it. He then gave it a sharp knock, shaking the door's figure slightly, causing the OUT OF ORDER sign to wobble.

All of the Digi-Destined, save Koichi, gave Koji a puzzled look. But in moments, the elevator rattled and opened its doors to the children.

"What the...?" murmured Takuya, watching Koji step into the small space, leaning against the corner. He gave the others a 'Well, aren't you coming?'look.

Koichi strode in after him, slowly followed by the other confused and bewildered kids.No one seemed to notice them, either; people seemed not to see them, walking right past the elevator.

Suddenly, it gave a sharp jerk, and slowly began to descend.

Zoe stood next to Koji, giving him a worried smile, then turning to face the silver of a window, pressing her hand against the cold glass. Koichi stood next to Takuya, who was fidgeting madly, and Tommy and J.P gazed around in wonder as the elevator sped down to the lower levels.

Moments later, it had gained momentum and started speeding down. Takuya, remembering his first time on the elevator, quickly wrapped his arms around his head to protect it from the continuous injuries he had received.

In seconds, the elevator slammed into the ground, nearly knocking all of the Digi-Destined to the ground. The elevator opened its door once again.

The thing was, there were no Trainmon.

The tunnels that had led the Trainmon to this very location were no where to be seen, and they were too big to miss. The entire area was still littered with some debris, and it seemed that the entire ground floor had been trampled.

Koji was the first to step out of the elevator, followed by Koichi. They surveyed the area before turning around to face the others.

"Well, I don't think the way is blocked," said Koji, gesturing to the cleared area around each track. "They may just not know we were coming,"

"They never called us, so how could they possibly know?" snapped J.P, delicately stepping over cement bricks, and followed by Tommy.

"They probably couldn't," said Koichi rather gravely, as if he were predicting the end of the world.

Takuya was not listening to their conversation; he was too busy hopping from track to track to see if the way really was clear enough to drive a Trainmon too. Darkness engulfed the tunnel past three yards, but besides a scrap of wood Takuya removed from the rail, it seemed clear.

"Hey!" cried Takuya. "Come over here!"

The others ran over to the goggle-head, tripping over the mess they had made trying to save the world a year before, to see what he had found. His face lit up with childish joy as he walked along the rail towards them.

"Koji! Remember when we were both standing at the end of the Trainmon? Remember what happened when we passed a certain place in the tunnel, it got dark and then we were in the Digital World?"

Koji nodded, his eyes blazing with the memory.

"Then that boundry is the portal to the Digital World."Takuya concluded. "We wouldn't need Trainmon. Since the Digital World is fully restored, we could just walk along the side of the track until we got to the Flame Terminal!"

"_Or _me, Zoe, and J.P could Spirit Evolve into Agunimon, Kazemon, and Beetlemon and carry you, Koichi and Tommy so we could get there faster!" interjected Takuya excitedly. "Does everyone have their cell phones?"

The Digi-Destined whipped out their newer cell phones, presenting them for Takuya to see.

"But the Spirits left us, remember?" Koji pointed out, shoving his mobile back into his pocket. "We might not be able to evolve. In fact, we couldn't."

Takuya's face fell for a moment, but then it lit up just as quickly.

"But maybe they'll come right back to our D-Tecters as soon as we make it through the portal!" he exclaimed, jittering around with pent-up energy. "You never know until you try!"

Koji was silent. He decided to keep his thoughts to himself since nobody was really listening to him.

"Well, it's settled!" Takuya decided. "Lets all walk through the same tunnel until we make it into the Digital World! Let's go!"

Tommy hollered with joy, J.P cheered, Zoe smiled lightly, Koichi suffered a small grin, and Koji was silent and stoic. Takuya jerked his thumb in the direction of the tunnel (as if they couldn't see it), and took the lead with the others following.

In the cave, Takuya began to chatter to J.P and Tommy, while Zoe and Koichi laughed at their antics. Koji fell purposely behind the others, not wanting to have his thoughts interrupted.

There was something wrong about this. That Koji knew. He was positive that they had been called into the Digital World to save the Digimon, but once Takuya mentioned the portals (well, Koji spoke of them directly, but Takuya was referring to them), everyone seemed to think the whole idea was just a game, just a vacation from the real world. Even Koichi had lost the seriousness of the situation considerably.

As they got closer and closer to the portal, Koji felt a sense of dread. It grew as they continued to walk, and soon it became overwhelming. He tried to ignore it, but the danger of it seemed so immense that it felt like a alarm clanging in his ear.

"Hey, Takuya...,"

"Come on, guys! We're there! The light from the station is almost gone, this must be it!" Takuya exclaimed, Koji's soft voice unheard.

"Zoe, Koichi, I don't think we should...,"

"Zoe!" cried J.P. "It's rather dark in these tunnels, no? Let me hold your hand and lead the way...!"

"Koichi, are you sure you're not making it darker in here...?" joked Tommy nervously, his white shirt only just visible.

Koji finally couldn't ignore the warning screaming in his brain.

"_Will you all just shut the hell up and stop -!"_

He never got to finish.

There was a flash of white and a loud snap.

Because they had reached the portal.

Except something was wrong.

Something had turned out very, very wrong.

* * *

**Wow, an ending I actually like. **

**Well, that's the nearly 3,000 word Chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! **

**It will probably be the only one for this story until April, because I am leaving to Europe, as you know. But that's not until the 19th, and I'll probably be up that early morning to check my mail one more time and stuff, so please review until and after then! Thanks!**

**Enjoy!**

**WingsOfSilverSorrow**


	2. The Second Warning

* * *

**Chapter 2 **

**The Second Warning**

"Oh, shit."

Koji was lying face down on the ground, his face feeling bruised and tender, but could clearly hear Takuya as he swore. He pressed himself off the ground, feeling as if being made of stone, and looked up.

The first thing he noticed was that everyone was lying on the ground, out cold, except for himself and Takuya, who was frozen in place, his hands clenching and unclenching. They were scraped and bleeding badly, along with a cut on his right arm.

"What the hell...?" Koji whispered as he gazed around. The second thing he saw was...nothing.

There was nothing there.

Dry, cracked, infertile ground, a melancholy grey sky, and a lifeless horizon as far as the eye could see. No Digimon. No plants. No life.

"Ow...Takuya," groaned a voice from behind them. "I am _never _listening to you ever again...you are just too..._stupid!"_

"Ouch, that must've hurt," Tommy chuckled weakly as he slowly sat up. Koichi was rubbing his eyes next to him, and J.P was just sitting up.

"Quiet, Tommy," Zoe snapped as she stood up. She also received several bruises and cuts, the most prominent one a long gash curving along her shoulder to halfway to her elbow. It was shallow, but it was enough to cause blood to trickle lightly down her wrist. She turned her attention to Koji, and her eyes widened.

"What?" hissed Koji, glaring at her, but he suddenly felt a warm stream of blood run down his face.

Zoe sighed and pulled out compact blush and mirror set (why would she have that, he wondered) and shoved it in his face.

Koji turned his face slightly, and found a deep gash under his cheek that was bleeding in large amounts down his face. He looked away from the mirror, scowling, which was when he noticed the tear in his jeans below the knee. It wasn't bleeding, though - it felt more like a bruise. Still, he wasn't looking too peachy.

"Dammit," he heard Koichi swear uncharacteristically. "I got dirt in my eyes...I can't see shit...,"

Tommy ran his hand across the earth, gathering up a bit of dirt in his palm.

"It's..._dust._" he sighed, letting the dirt slide out of his hand back onto the ground.

"Okay..," Takuya clapped his hands together, wincing. "We need to survey the land -,"

"What land?" muttered J.P under his breath, wiping dirt off his face.

"- and try to find out what happened. J.P, you come with me to explore. Koji, you look like _gore, _so Zoe, go find bandages or something to use to patch him up. Tommy, find Koichi a rag and some water so he can flush out his eyes, got it?" he finished, already optimistic and giving orders. Just moments later, he and J.P were clearing the area for any life.

Zoe glanced around hesitantly, not seeing a puddle of water around. Koji was beginning to feel hazy from the loss of blood. Tommy did nothing; nobody brought any of the things the twins needed. Koichi rubbed his eyes.

"Take this," Koji muttered weakly, untying his bandana and holding it out to Zoe. She stared at him for a moment, then took it from him, unfolded it, and ripped it into shreds. She handed a strip to Tommy, and took one for her shoulder. She gave Koji two, ordering him to clean himself up.

Koji dabbed his face with the shred of his bandana, grinding his teeth together from the sting of the dirty cloth. Koichi continued to rub his eyes, which were red and teary.

"Stop rubbing, Koichi! Honestly! You're going to make it worse!" Zoe scolded. Tommy stood next to her, tying a bandage around her shoulder.

And the bickering and complaints continued from there, mostly from Zoe. When Tommy tied the bandana too tightly, or Koichi tried to rub his eyes again, or even when Koji looked like he was about to pass out, she would lecture and scold them. Only Tommy talked back to her; the twins were a bit helpless at that point.

"Well, if you'd stop _bitching..._"

_"Tommy!_ What gives you the right to say that? I swear, that dumb ass Takuya is the _worst _influence on you...!"

"You just swore! Stop yelling at me when - !"

"Hey!" called a familiar voice from the distance. Takuya came running, J.P wailing at his heels, towards them, a panicked look on his face. "We actually _do _have company!"

There was a feminine cackle and a deep laugh from behind the two boys. Koji felt at least seventy percent more awake at the eerie combination.

"How _brave _of you to come, Digi-Destined," cooed a tall, lady-like Digimon, who gracefully revealed her self to the remaining four. Her masked eyes glowed blood red, and her ash-gray hair looked like each hair was plucked from a cobweb. One somewhat chained hand was cloaked in black and slender, while the other was long and thin a sharply clawed, with long orange nails. Her ragged cloak snapped and curled even without the presence of wind, which the children found intimidating.

"I'm sure you've figured out why you've been called here, kiddies?" cackled another similar shaped Digimon, except this one was white, with an almost blueish gleam like ice. His arms were so long his hands at his ankles, with fingers even more clawlike then his partner. His gaunt face was also cloaked with a mask, but seemingly bald underneath. His large wings were white and incredibly ragged, tears and gashes piercing through the skin everywhere. It was a wonder he was flying at the moment.

_IceDevimon! _Koji suddenly realized who the second Digimon was. _He almost killed me and Takuya and Koichi! Well, mostly me, but still._

"IceDevimon," hissed Takuya, eyes narrowing and still-bleeding hands clenched once again.

"Takuya, Warrior of Flame, if I remember correctly," drawled IceDevimon in his strange southern accent. "The beautiful, more powerful maiden joining me this gorgeous day is LadyDevimon, and you _will _remember that,"

"Well, I'd say enough with the introductions, pookie," purred LadyDevimon. "Let's just kill them now!"

"You'll never beat -!" Takuya began, but J.P yanked him back hard.

"Idiot! We'll never beat them! We don't have our spirits anymore! Sure, our D-Tectors are still here," he said, pulling out his blue and yellow device. "But we still can't evolve! Look!"

J.P pressed one of the buttons on the front, scrolling through the screens where his Human and Beast Spirit were supposed to be. Takuya sighed, and gave J.P, Zoe, and Tommy all a hard stare. They nodded.

_What? _

"Time to die! You children bore me," cried LadyDevimon. "_Darkness Spear!_"

One of her arms suddenly became a sharp spear, and in seconds, she had hurled in at the children. Takuya and J.P leaped out of the way, tumbling in the dirt.

"_Tundra Freeze!_"

A cold wind whipped up behind them, then a full-on snow avalanche began to from from behind IceDevimon, roaring down the hilltop they stood at.

_"Run!" _screamed Takuya.

Koji started to stand up, but Takuya and Zoe both came over and helped him by supporting him on both sides. Tommy and J.P were trying to do the same thing with the blinded Koichi. They all started to run, trying to take as long leaps as possible, as fast as they could. The avalanche was not far from completely crushing them now.

"Come on, guys! I see the portal!" exclaimed Takuya. Koji saw it too - a strange, borderless purpled-hued gate to the real world.

"Oh, no you don't!" screeched LadyDevimon, "_Darkness Wave!_"

A swarm of pure darkness seeped from her, and she let it join the avalanche of snow down it's tumbling path, which was now very close to the children.

However, the gate was only three feet away now.

"_Jump!_" screamed Takuya, who launched himself, Koji, and even Zoe into the black mist.

For a split second, there was a flash of white, but definitely not like before. The flash of blinding light that had consumed them the first time seemed...different. Something had happened that Koji couldn't quite settle on.

But before he knew it, he was lying face down on the cold cement on the underground train station.

J.P, Tommy, and Koichi came screaming after them, landing in a heap at the mouth of the tunnel, missing Koji by only a foot.

"Is everyone okay? Are we all alive?" whispered Zoe, awed they could have possibly made it out in one piece.

"I'm fine."

"That was wicked awesome! I wanna do that again! Oh, yeah, I'm good."

"Tommy, we nearly _killed _ourselves doing that."

"My eyes hurt."

"So!" Takuya started up again. "What the hell was that?"

"No Digimon, plants, or anything, at all, except for IceDevimon and LadyDevimon." explained Tommy.

"That's not what he meant," groaned J.P.

"That was terrible! We literally had death nipping our heels, our Digimon friends all are gone, and our Spirits haven't come back!" cried Zoe. "I'm never going to seen Kazemon again."

"Pull yourself together, woman!" groaned Koji. "One minute your lecturing us like my Math teacher, and the next your going on and on with the crying -!"

"Koji! Zoe! Shut up!" snapped Takuya. "We need a place to crash at for a bit. Just to clean ourselves up and stuff."

Zoe seemed to brighten slightly at that idea.

"My parents are at work," Koji began to explained, glancing at the screen of his cell phone. "But their going to be home in...about an hour."

"My mom and dad are probably out with Yutaka right now, since he's leaving to be with some friends before college tomorrow," said Tommy. "They could be back at anytime."

"My parents are not going to be back until nine," Zoe said with a smile. "That should be enough to clean ourselves up and wash our clothes."

"Sweet! We get to go to _Zoe's _house!" exclaimed J.P in pure joy.

"How can we wash our clothes with _you _around?" wondered Takuya aloud. "What, do you have two bathrooms?"

"Actually, she has four." Koichi spoke up. His eyes were red, but he could stop himself from rubbing them. "I had to go over to her house to finish a project. It's huge."

"It's settled. You boys shower and wash your clothes in the three upstairs bathrooms, while I use the one downstairs." Zoe decided, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. Her hysterical behavior from before was replaced with leaderly bossiness. "Now let's shimmy up the elevator and get to my house before my parents do!"

"Hey!" complained Takuya. "I'm supposed to say that!"

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed that Chapter. I am pretty proud of it, actually, so I hope you liked it too.**

**I pretty much made up the Tundra Freeze move because there was no description of it. I hope the moves were okay, anyway**.

**I'll try to update soon, but I am extremely busy with a lot of school activities and all sorts of things. I'll try, though! XD**

WingsOfSilverSorrow


	3. The Third Surprise

**Chapter 3**

**Third Surprise**

Koji sat at the dining room table in the Orimoto house, his hair still wet and glossy from is shower (a game of four-way rock-paper-scissors decided he would go first). He had managed to run back to the house and fetch new clothes; he now was wearing a clean navy shirt that was accented with a black strip running down his sides and from his shoulder to the end of his short sleeves, and skinny denim shorts that rolled up at his knees. His blue eyes stared unblinking at the table.

Zoe flipped her blow-dried hair over her shoulder, enjoying the softness of it, and padded down the stairs. She saw Koji staring at the table, and cocked her head slightly and stopping on the second to last step.

"Hey, Koji."

Koji looked up at her, his ponytail unmoving (_He should really cut it already, _Zoe thought to herself_). _The gash on his face was no longer bleeding, and now it seemed possible to remain a scar on his skin forever. Maybe not. How would she know?

"'Sup? Is my table that fascinating?"

Koji did not reply.

"Hey! I'm all showered and ready to go!" Takuya hollered, leaping into the room. His brunnete locks lightly grazed the side of his face, but not covering an inch of his radiant smile. Zoe flashed a smile back at him.

"Anyway, I gotta go get new clothes for Tommy from Shinya," he said. "His are all torn up and they aren't very clean after going in your million-dollar washing machine. Be right back."

Just as he turned to leave, out of the corner of his eye he saw a pair of blue eyes fixated on him.

Koji.

He closed that door behind him. Koji was his best friend; he knew very well what that look meant by now. Koji had just sent him a warning. But of what?

Takuya decided to jog down to his house, feeling content at the moment, but in his mind he was scrolling his mind for any possible answers to the great mystery before the Digi-Destined at the moment.

The Digital World was dead. That sounded wrong in his mind, so he said it aloud quietly to himself.

"The Digital World is dead."

It tasted metallic in his mouth.

Okay, skip that. Well, there also weren't any Digimon, either, besides LadyDevimon and IceDevimon, but what did they have to do with anything, besides being evil?

Evil. What the hell was the new evil that awaited them?

That was the real question.

"_Look out!"_

Takuya was then lying on his back.

_Ow. I think I broke my butt or something..._

He tried to sit up, but nearly cried out in shock.

"Dang! I thought you were the Light Boy!"

A small creature was sitting on his chest. He had round coal-black eyes and a small button nose, and large fringed ears that brushed the ground below Takuya. On his forhead was a blunt horn, and on his arms where nubby black fingers. He was completely white except for some pale green markings on his arms, chest, and ears.

The thing that caught his eye, however, was that around the neck of the little white and green bundle were three necklaces. Each was a glass orb on a black cord, and there was a different color pulsing within each: fiery red, neon yellow, blackish-grey.

"Well, if you're not the Light Boy, then I bet you're...oh! You're the Fire Boy!" cried the creature happily. Takuya blinked. "Oh, by the way, I'm Terriermon, if you didn't know."

"Why. Are. You. Here." seethed Takuya. "Digimon. Cannot. Come. To. The. Human. WORLD."

Terriermon's face fell.

"Well, I know, but you see, me and my twin Digimon were told by Strabimon and Flamemon to give you these." He pointed to the orbs around his neck. "Speaking of which...hey, Lopmon, where'd you go? _Lopmon!?"_

"Here."

Another Digimon quietly padded out from the ferns nearby. She seemed to be complete opposites of Terriermon. She had the same markings and long ears, except she was chocolate brown where he was white, and was a baby pink where he was green. The only real difference was that this Digimon had three horns forming a triangle on her head instead of one.

Around Lopmon's neck were three necklaces as well, an ice blue, pale pink, and luminous white.

Behind her stood two more Digimon. Both human-looking, one was a dull red with a wild mane of hair, small pricked teeth, and a fiery tail, and the other was tall and thin and blue and grey striped with long gloved claws.

"..."

"Wow, long time no see, Taky."

Takuya's mouth dropped open.

Flamon and a Digimon he'd never seen before were standing right in front of him.

"What?!" he wheezed. He was losing it. "O-okay! This is way out of hand! Flamon, why the hell are you here with them?"

"Hehe, well, it's not just us. Other Digimon are around, but most of them are hiding out of fear." Flamon replied calmly. Takuya noticed a strange ghostly hue on the red Digimon. "Strabimon, show Takuya the Spirits."

The silent wolf-like companion of Flamon gracefully slid over to Takuya, and revealed twelve beast spirits, all ready to spill out of the ghostly thin arms of Strabimon.

"Woah...wait a minute! This is Agunimon! And EmperorGreymon! My Spirits! And the other's too!" Takuya was overflowing with excitement.

Strabimon nodded. "Koji ran off before he could take the Spirit. I think he was a bit...surprised." He thought for a moment. "It was him who pointed you all in the right direction; we were going to thank him.

"Oh, right."

"Well! You better be getting back with those!"

Flamon waved his transparent arms in the direction of Zoe's house. Strabimon's narrow eyes gazed at the sunset.

"Wait, Flamon. He was came out for a reason. Let him finish his errand and return."

"_Fine! _Then hurry _up, _Taky!" Flamon folded his arms impatiently.

As Takuya struggled to hold onto all of the spirits, he noticed Lopmon and Terriermon whispering something into Flamon's ear Flamon seemingly shrugged off whatever that asked of him.

"You have until dark."

Looking up, Takuya saw Strabimon standing in front of him. His ghostly figure seemed to fade with every passing moment.

Takuya knew this vauge, ominous warning must be true.

But what would come at darkness?

_-o-o-o-o-o-o-_

**Sorry for the long wait. I just never had time. XD That and FanFiction pissing me off (seriously! They keep changing everything. Now I can't do a regular seperating line, the words are getting screw up when I submit them, and everything is whack!). Oh, and my sister pissing me off. And my teachers. And my mom. And my homework. And me. XD I will try to write when I can.  
**

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